Dromore biscuits to take on Paris buns

Graham’s Bakery is set to tempt the people of Paris away from their buns having won its first business in France with an order to supply a leading retail chain with its award-winning biscuits.

The family-owned bakery, which is based in Dromore, has just sent the first consignment of its Irish Oat Cookies and Irish Butter Shortbread to Comptoir Irlandais, headquartered at Plouedem in Brittainy with 45 stores across France including Paris.

Tim Graham, sales and marketing director of Graham’s, commenting on the company’s latest export deal, says: “The order followed an approach to us by a member of Comptoir’s management team at a major food show in London. “He sampled our products and was impressed by their taste and quality and also by our history.

“We subsequently sent samples to the company in France and an initial order for our Irish Oat Cookies and Irish Butter Shortbread, two of our most successful products for export, followed.

“Comptoir gives us a strong base for growth in France because of its profile as a business specialising in premium food and drink from the United Kingdom and Ireland.

“As well as food and drink, the stores sell a broad range of quality goods from the British Isles.

“The success of the Comptoir business model is seen in its growth to 45 stores across France in the past 30 years.

“This is potentially very important business for us because of the retailer’s impressive reputation and its presence in most of the nation’s main cities.”

The new business in France follows the bakery’s exports of its biscuits and other products, such as mini cakes and muffins, to the US, the Middle East and Republic of Ireland.

The bakery also supplies retailers in Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

Exporting has become an integral part of the enterprising Northern Ireland company’s business.

The bakery, a UK Great Taste award winner, is a third generation family business that started producing a range of freshly baked breads, cakes and buns in 1956 in premises at the heart of Dromore. It operates from a state-of-the-art bakery in the town and uses local butter in its award- winning Irish biscuits, sponge cakes and swiss rolls.

The company now employs 50 people and has a portfolio of 20 different products all baked on site.